It’s pouring rain in Saigon as I write this post from The Library University of Science Ho Chi Minh City. I haven’t walked around beyond the open air public computer section, but it seems like a fairly standard public library.
I got in this morning at 6am and spent some time walking the streets around my hostel before the Ho Chi Minh City Musesum of Fine Arts opened. Shortly after finishing at the museum, a sudden downpour forced me to take shelter in the Ben Thahn Market until a slight break in the rain allowed me to make the three block dash to the library. Since I haven’t even been here for a full day, I’ll follow up with a more complete post.
For now I need to play some catch up since I’m a few weeks behind on my travel log.
“Stay in Tam Coc, not Ninh Binh,” was the phrase repeated endlessly in the north by travelers coming from the south of Vietnam. Upon arriving at the resort-like hostel, which included a swimming pool, outdoor pool table, and beautiful dorms, I fully understood why this distinction was so heavily emphasized.
The town of Tam Coc felt like a vactaion town for Vietnamese families. A bike-friendly main street filled with small shops, a variety of resturants, and other boardwalk style attractions ran through the center of town.
On the first day, my travel crew and I rented bikes and pedaled to Lying Dragon Mountain, by far the most touristy place I’d been to date. Women in fancy dresses posed for their instagram husbands until they got the perfect shot to share online. Needless to say most of these people weren’t making the 450 step climb to the mountain top in the humid tropical weather.
The next two days we rented scooters. On the first day we rode over to Trang An for a boat ride through terrain that reminded me of the limestone pillars at Halong Bay.
The rowboats passed through long, narrow tunnels with low hanging stalactites that had to be dodged as we paddled downstream to small temples tucked away in the limestone faces along the river.
After sweating it out in a rowboat, I drove a friend into the city of Ninh Binh to pick up some headphones. The city itself was unexceptional, which reaffirmed the wisdom of staying in Tam Coc that so many people shared with me. The ride back was a race against the rain that we lost. Thankfully there was an oversized poncho stashed in the scooter that kept me dry as I served as a windshield for my passenger.
Unfortunately the next day we were not so lucky. None of our scooters came with ponchos, and what seemed like a light drizzle when standing around was enough to thouroughly soak all our clothing on the ride the Bai Dinh Pagoda, the largest temple complex in Vietnam.
In normal conditions, I think the pagoda would have been quite impressive, but waterlogged shoes and overcast weather seem to have a way of diminishing my memory of the experience.
This essay is interupted to notify you that a group of young boys is playing minecraft on either side of me. They keep side eyeing my monitor, trying to give me the not-so-subtle hint to wrap it up so their friend can take over my computer.
A night bus dropped us off at our hostel in Phòng Nha just before 4 am. Thankfully there was a room filled with bean bags that we were able to sleep in until the dorm was ready.
6 hours later I found myself on a 22 km bike tour through the city on a +90 F day.
Despite being spoiled by access to incredible rivers to float on in Montana, I couldn’t have been more grateful to take a break from biking for a leisurely float on such a hot day.
The next day we rented motorbikes to ride into Phòng Nha National Park. The nearly empty roads cut through the densest, greenest jungle vegetation I’ve ever seen. 
Apparently caves like this aren’t uncommon in SE Asia, but since it was my first one, I found the vaulted ceilings and speleothems (cave formations from secondary mineral deposits, think stalagmites and stalactites and everything in between) quite impressive. And yes, I had to look up the word speleothems to remember it. Traveling in Vietnam regularly makes me wish I had paid better attention in my geology courses.
We ended the day with a meal at a vegan restaurant that was so good I returned the next day for lunch before catching my bus to Hue.
Dave Tortora 